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I am not a fan of this series by Scholastic. When it came out, I bought the first book, A Bad Beginning, at the Scholastic Book Fair to see if it was appropriate for my daughter to read. It was, but I did not care for it at all. Too negative. I found no quirky humor to it and I chose not to read any more. My daughter; however, loved the first one and proceeded to read the entire series, as did my students! Sometimes, you just can’t tell what kids will like!

Well, jump nearly ten years later and I have been challenged to read the entire series before my student finishes them. He is way ahead of me. I am struggling to read them because I do not like the style of book. A couple of my coworkers (classroom teachers and teaching assistants) have gotten…

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I thought I would write about something other than books today and that is me and my Nintendo games consoles. I have a Nintendo Wii and a Nintendo DS, and my dad has a very old Super Nintendo (SNES?). The Super Nintendo very rarely gets used now, because we have to tune it into the television when we want to use it. I guess this shows how technology has advanced with SCART.

My three favourite computer games are (in this order)

Super Mario Bros Wii

My mum and dad love the Mario games, which we have several for the SNES so when we bought the Wii many years ago Nintendo SMBW was one of the first games that we bought for it.The story is about the Princess who has been kidnapped by the evil character Bowser. Bowser needs to have his bottom kicked and who is best to do it, Mario! The game still has the very same feel as its earlier SNES versions and I think that is the best bit, its fresh but it still made my parents feel about 10 years old again. You can play it on your own, or as a team with the inclusion of Luigi and friends. The difficulty starts quite easy, but then it gets more difficult as you progress and towards the end you are dodging enemies, fireballs and bullets – it gets tough. It is absolutely one of my favourite games ever. I have completed it about 6 times, and I only had to cheat about 6 times in total, using the walk through Luigi help option.

Mario Kart Wii

Again my mum and dad love the Mario games, which we have several for the SNES including the original Mario Kart so when we bought the Wii many years ago Nintendo MKW was one of the first games that we bought for it. It is a fantastic racer game that you can either complete in normal race mode, or battle mode against friends at home, or even on the internet. You can play the game with the normal Wii controller, or you can use the Wii steering wheel – although it’s not everyone’s favourite way to play.You can play the game in different difficulty, easy (50cc), medium (100cc) and harsh (150cc). It is a fantastic game, with new levels and old levels – I can’t recommend it enough!

Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training Nintendo DS

I own Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training on the Nintento DS and I love it dearly. There is not a lot you can say about it really. You can do various tasks and games like add, subtract, you can do word games, memory tests, counting and reading tests. Brain Training is excellent and it is addictive as well as rewarding. After a while playing this game, you will be making your brain much better at doing this tasks. After a few days’ jotting down answers on the screen, and tough few days training you’ll be able to do the maths, memory and counting tests quicker than before and you’ll start taking years off your brain age.

Several months ago I sent a book to a UK children’s hospital, as a charitable donation. I thought it would be a nice surprise for the poorly children on the ward, giving them something to do. The lady in charge of the ward replied with a lovely letter tonight, which has just arrived in the post and greeted me this evening. As well as the letter they put a lovely kids painting that the children had made for me, it really made me smile. I am so happy that the book is going to good use, and it was appreciated.